Production team
Writer/Composer: Rob Parker
Rob was raised in Bedford and was the lucky recipient of a great musical and dramatic education courtesy of the county.
He is a professional composer and playwright, having been writing shows for over 30 years. He is a collaborator with Piper Theatre from Brooklyn, New York, and has worked with them in the USA as well as in Malta and Scotland.
The Great Siege is a passion project that Rob wanted desperately to put on, and thankfully, in Dawn, he found a likeminded and highly motivated partner to get the ball rolling. It is a real joy to hand the show over to this talented team. Tim’s orchestration brings a whole new ambience to the music, and Cally will bring her world of talent and experience to the challenges of outdoor theatre.
He cannot wait to watch the final production!
Director: Cally Lawrence
Cally has been working as an actor and director since 1995. She grew up in Bedfordshire, and in recent years directed George's Marvellous Medicine, Wild Things, and Twilight Dancer at The Place. Cally played Beatrice in Much Ado about Nothing on Castle Mound back in 2013. In 2016, she directed a promenade production of The Passion in Bedford. She loves living in Bedford and is excited to be working on The Great Siege.
"It is a wonderful chance to bring an important piece of Bedford's history to life in a fun and creative way. Everyone knows Castle Mound, but not everyone knows the story behind it."
Cally’s acting roles includes TV shows such as The Office, Peep Show, People Just Do Nothing, and more recently, True Love for Channel 4, and Sexy Beast for Paramount Plus. Her recent theatre work includes Shirley Valentine (Vienna’s English Speaking Theatre), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Greenwich Theatre) and Boeing Boeing (Frinton Summer Theatre).
Cally is one of the producers of StageWrite, a new writing event based at The Place, running twice a year since 2013. She is also on the Front of House team at The Quarry theatre. "Theatre in all its forms is my biggest passion, and there is so much great stuff going on in Bedford, I feel very lucky to be a part of it."
Musical Director/Arranger: Tim Brewster
Tim has been playing, MDing, and writing music for the theatre and other genres since moving to Bedfordshire in 1996. Writing credits include two musicals - Nicholas Nickleby (2012) and (partnering with Ruth Lusby-Yentis) a musical version of Michael Morpurgo’s Friend or Foe (2014). Tim also wrote the music for Poppy Hollman’s play Bells of Turvey (2016).
The Great Siege offers an opportunity to draw upon Tim’s early influences, which include folk music, the early music revival, and the Bill Bryden productions of The Mysteries and Lark Rise to Candleford for the National Theatre, both of which Tim went on to recreate and stage locally.
"The musical style used in those Cottesloe productions managed to convey a deep sense of history, time and place, whilst at the same time sounding contemporary and full of energy.
I’m very excited to be the Musical Director for the Great Siege, and to have had the opportunity to arrange Rob’s songs for a large, live band, aiming to create the same effect as the music had in those iconic NT productions."
Producer: Dawn Allen
Dawn has been hooked on local theatre since she was 14, and first sold ice creams in the Civic Theatre!
She has since performed in many roles on stage, notably Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, and her enthusiasm for all things theatrical has extended to stage managing, designing and constructing sets, as well as directing. Most recently she directed One for the Road, which was performed in February this year at The Place Theatre in Bedford.
Dawn is also a local Tour Guide and has become immersed in the history of Bedford. Combining her love of theatre and local history was a driving force behind promoting the opportunity to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the last siege of Bedford Castle. Dawn says "Finding out that Rob Parker was as gripped by the story of Bedford Castle as me, was a light bulb moment. Rob’s writing and music depicting the events of the summer of 1224 are nothing short of sensational and I am thrilled that we can mount this production in the very capable hands of Cally Lawrence and Tim Brewster."
The Band
Chas Hutchings – trumpet, crumhorn
Dan Phillips – drums, tenor drum
Danny Barton – guitar, lute
Kate Brewster – soprano saxophone, flute
Liz Schofield – trombone, sackbut
Matt Jarman - bass guitar
Simon Bailes – accordion, percussion
Tim Brewster – border bagpipes, hurdy gurdy, treble recorder, bouzouki